After my husband's recent Dr. appt., I gave the front desk receptionist his new Medicaid insurance card. When she was inputting it, she told me this is his 3rd insurance. That now he has triple coverage.
We have had Medicare and a Supplemental Insurance policy since he retired. He has recently been accepted for Medicaid.
My question is: Is his supplemental insurance policy something I should or could cancel? His premiums are getting pretty high, but I don't want to be hit with expensive out of pocket medical bills. Does Medicare and Medicaid cover all his expenses now?
I asked his Medicaid Case Manager, but he didn't know.
Does anyone have any thoughts, experience with this?
Thanks in advance.
If he has a Medicaid case manager, then he might be a Medicaid recipient. Not sure how the case manage wouldn't know, but maybe he meant didn't know what other policies he signed up for. No one will know except your husband and the insurance carrier.
One has to apply for Medicaid and qualify both financially and medically. In my state a Medicaid recipient picks out which insurance carrier they want for their Medicaid.
You need to go through his mail and paperwork, his email, bank and credit card statements and checkbooks to see what he's been paying for. My MIL gets lots of mail at the beginning of the year from Medicaid and all other insurances.
I kept my aunts Medicare supplement when she went on Medicaid and went into a NH. Her elder care attorney advised it.
It is still good for what you are using it for now and used it for in the past. Aunt has Medicaid, Medicare A&B, Supplement and Part D for drugs.
I have used it with her specialist doctor visits. They don’t take Medicaid. They take Medicare part B and that leaves the 20% that the supplement covers. When she went into the hospital she used her Medicare and supplement. When she went on rehab after the hospital her supplement paid the 20% Medicare didn’t pay.
Is your husband living in a nursing home? My aunt is in a NH. Medicaid allows her to keep all of her insurance and it is still paid for with her Social Security. The remainder of her social security, less her personal needs allowance goes to the NH. And her 401 draw down goes to the NH. If she needs something that Medicaid doesn’t cover, she still has her insurance to pay for it.
But each state is different.
I have never dealt with community Medicaid where the patient lives at home, so I don’t know how that works if that is your husbands situation.
You mention it is expensive. In aunts case, she wouldn’t get to keep that money that pays the supplement. It would go towards her care. Medicaid would rather she have the Medicare and supplement than have the money is the best I can figure it out or they would require she drop it.
So the information that isn’t clear is whether your husband is living in a facility (LTC medicaid) or living at home (community medicaid).
Are you writing a check to pay for his supplement? Were you thinking he would keep that premium amount if he dropped the coverage? I was told aunt would not keep that amount. It would go toward her Medicaid payment. So I made the decision to keep the supplement. I thought I could always drop it in the future if she didn’t use it. She has used it and since I can’t foresee her future needs, I plan to keep it.
When Mom went on Medicaid in a NH, she had Medicare, secondary and Medicaid. So what happened was Medicare got billed first, the secondary paid what they didcand Medicaid paid the rest. I did eventually drop the secondary. But some States will require the secondary be kept but an adjustment is made in the SS that the NH is given. The spouse is not out of pocket.
What I suggest is making an appointment with Office of Aging to see if they can explain how your State Medicaid works. If all he needs is his Medicare and Medicaid, then drop the secondary. I think thisvis something a Medicaid case mananger should know and if not should find out for you. Thats why they are a case mananger.